1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus, an installation program, a computer-readable recording medium storing the installation program, and an installation method. More particularly, the present invention relates to an image forming apparatus to which a peripheral device such as a paper ejector is connectable and that controls the connected peripheral device, or an installation program for installing the control program for controlling the connected peripheral device, a computer-readable recording medium storing the installation program, and an installation method for installing the control program.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, to image forming apparatuses such as printers, copiers and facsimiles, a paper ejector having a sorter function or a stapler function is connected as a peripheral device. An instruction to control the peripheral device is input from an input device provided on the printer. In response to the input instruction, a controller provided in the printer controls the peripheral device.
Normally, the number of kinds of peripheral devices connectable to a printer is not limited to one but a peripheral device selected from among multiple kinds of peripheral devices is connected at the user's request. Therefore, it is necessary that the control programs for controlling all the connectable peripheral devices be prestored in the printer. When the control programs for controlling all the connectable peripheral devices are not stored, a read-only memory (ROM) storing the control program for controlling the connected peripheral device is changed every time a different peripheral device is connected. By doing this, the control program for controlling the peripheral device is installed in the printer.
Japanese Laid-open Patent Application No. 2000-207153 discloses to download the control programs of the printer from a host computer connected to the printer when the printer is activated. In this art, the control programs downloaded from the host computer include almost all the programs except the boot program. The downloaded control programs are stored in a random-access memory (RAM) of the printer. This makes it easy to cope with faults of the programs for controlling the printer and update the programs.
However, installing all the control programs for controlling the peripheral devices connectable to the printer requires an enormous amount of memory capacity, which increases the cost of the memory. Moreover, in the structure in which the ROM is changed according to the connected peripheral device, it is necessary to change the ROM every time a different peripheral device is connected, which is cumbersome.
Further, according to the art disclosed in Japanese Laid-open Patent Application No. 2000-207153, since the downloaded programs for controlling the printer are executed after stored in the RAM, the programs stored in the RAM vanish every time the printer is turned off. Therefore, it is necessary to download the programs for controlling the printer from the host computer every time the printer is turned on.